Ambler parents take part in national hearing on school closures

The U.S. Secretary of Education held a national community hearing in Washington, D.C., to discuss a rising number of school closings across the country in low-income areas that contain a higher population of minority groups.

An anonymous source recently filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education regarding the Wissahickon School Board’s recent decision to close Mattison Avenue, citing the decision as discriminatory against the Hispanic population in Ambler. The complaint said the district discriminated against the Hispanic community because it failed to provide effective methods of communication to Hispanic parents at the school who are limited in English proficiency. The district denied such allegations.

Wahl-Kunzier and Joyce attended the hearing and testified before Education Secretary Arne Duncan on behalf of their community after they were invited by a group known as Journey for Justice. Wahl-Kunzier said she and Joyce had worked all of last summer looking for ways to try to save Mattison Avenue and, through various connections, came in contact with Daniel DelPielago of the group known as Empower D.C., who invited them to attend the hearing with the rest of the members of Journey for Justice from across the country. She said it felt inappropriate to ask a number of people to come with them considering many of the members of Journey for Justice had been planning the trek to D.C. for months and they were asked to attend very late in the game.

Advertisement

Approximately 500 students, parents and community representatives representing 18 cities across the country gathered at the Department of Education building in Washington to testify and hope to see some type of intervention at the federal level.

Wahl-Kunzier and Joyce said they spoke with Assistant Secretary (Acting) Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Civil Rights Seth Galanter, who gave them the contact information for director of the OCR Philadelphia Office, Wendella Fox. They were told she would look into the Ambler situation. They said they were told the DOE would continue to investigate the situation with the Wissahickon School District and ultimately it has final say on all school closures. They were further told the DOE “could provide a remedy to the situation ,” but were not given specifics as to what that remedy might be. The DOE also did not provide a timeline as to when the investigation would end and when any potential help may take place.

Regarding the Wissahickon complaint, Wahl-Kunzier and Joyce said they were hopeful to find a solution considering the information they received at the hearing.

After the nearly two-hour hearing ended, they joined the crowd and marched to the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial where a candlelight vigil was held.

Cities all across the country, including Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, Newark, Detroit and Oakland, have filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights citing the closing of schools and the criteria and methods for administering those actions as discriminatory toward low-income, minority communities.

Facing 37 school closures throughout the city, the Philadelphia City Council voted 14-2 in favor of a nonbinding resolution put forward by the Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools, calling for a one-year moratorium on school closings.

Wahl-Kunzier said she wondered “whether will stand by their children. They really do need to help beyond just parent volunteers. They do need help .” She said the district “can’t cut kids off because their parents don’t speak English.”

Wahl-Kunzier said she was amazed as she listened to the complaints from the hundreds of different people in attendance for the hearing, because they were “the exact same thing, word for word,” as to what the defenders of Mattison Avenue had been arguing. Many of the schools were also very similar to Mattison Avenue, she said, noting they were small community-based schools and by closing these schools it was “like taking a second home from .”

Wahl-Kunzier said they were given contact information of a number of different groups fighting to keep their schools open across the country.